Zera Secundus Incident
The Zera Secundus Incident is a minor conflict that occurred in 362.M41 when Astartes of the Ghosts of Retribution visited the long-lost human world of Zera Secundus in Sector Nostramo, near the Ghoul Stars. Led by Chaplain Axon, the Space Marines discovered a primitive human society on the planet who worshipped the Emperor with regular mass human sacrifices. The Astartes interrupted a sacrificial ritual in progress, sparking a violent counter-intervention by Eldar from Craftworld Alaitoc that culminated in the emergence of a strange new enemy that forced the Astartes and Eldar to briefly join forces. Background Chaplain Axon - commanding the frigate Strongback - had been dispatched to the Ghoul Stars in response to a message from Brother Elegion with a mission to retrieve the long-MIA Astartes. Accompanying Axon for security was a Tactical Squad from the Seventh Company, led by Sergeant Reidor. Whilst en route to the Ghoul Stars the Strongback suffered a warp drive malfunction, stranding it in the Zera System deep in the half-forgotten Sector Nostramo, near the borders of the Ghoul Stars themselves. Whilst officially within the Imperium on Imperial Charts, the local region had been all but abandoned by the Imperium for thousands of years and virtually no up-to-date information was available. After scanning the aged System's habitable worlds, the Astartes discovered that one world - Zera Secundus - was inhabited by humans of a sub-Imperial but still fairly advanced level of development. Description 'Astartes Arrival' Chaplain Axon and Squad Reidor descended onto Zera Secundus and carefully investigated the local humans without making their presence known. Infiltrating a major settlement under cover of shadows, the Astartes observed a large public square over two days to assess the status and loyalties of the local humans. However some time into their observations, the Astartes saw a festival begin to take place. During the festival, over two hundred locals were being prepared for a religious ritual devoted to the locals' strange interpretation of the God-Emperor (a half-naked effigy sitting upon a throne of snakes), and as the preparations progressed it became increasingly clear that they were prepared for a mass sacrifice of human life. Before the first sacrifice could be butchered by the High Priest the Astartes abandoned their concealed positions and made themselves known, demaning a halt to the heretical ritual. The primitive locals fell to their knees and rejoiced in celebration, lauding the arrival of the 'Sky Giants'. Once the initial shock had worn off, the High Priest took Axon deep beneath the city's large cathedral andshowed the Chaplain strange artefacts of grey metal and green energy, and body parts that looked to be covered-in or made-of metal chained to the walls like decorations. The Priest explained that these were the 'Cursed Ones' that had brought calamity to Zera Secundus, until the 'Blue Ones' came from the sky to destroy the Cursed Ones. Iit was these 'Blue Ones' - supposedly great warriors - that had then instructed the locals to conduct regular mass sacrifice. Awed by their saviours, the local Zerans had readily agreed. According to the Priest a Missionary had visited Zera Secundus many decades ago and attempted to halt the sacrificial practices, but he was then himself sacrified by the locals. Before he died the Missionary claimed that one day Sky Giants would liberate Zera Secundus, replacing the Blue Ones as their protectors and ending the need for the sacrificial rituals. As the supposed fulfilment of this prophecy, the Astartes were worshipped by the population and word began spreading rapidly that the sacrificial rituals were no longer necessary. 'Eldar Intervention' As Chaplain Axon examined the strange remnants of the 'Cursed Ones' beneath the cathedral, Sergeant Reidor detected a communications signal on the outskirts of the city. Reidor and half his squad investigated the signal, only to find themselves being ambushed by dozens of Eldar warriors of the Craftworld Alaitoc. Brother Raefor was badly wounded in the opening exchange. Clad in blue armour, it quickly became apaprent that it was the Alaitoci that were the Zerans' 'Blue Ones', that had instructed them to conduct regular sacrifices in return for protection against the Cursed Ones. Carrying Raefor, the marines retreated to the Cathedral whilst Zeran locals fled in all directions in a panic, bolts and shurikens flying around as Eldar and Astartes skirmished between the dense city buildings. Holing themselves up in the thickly-walled cathedral, the badly outnumbered Astartes took stock as Eldar began occupying the buildings all around the square that lay before the cathedral. The leader of the Eldar (who would later name himself as Ylvar, First of the Guardians of the Red Yan Spire) called out and demanded the Astartes lay down their weapons and leave the cathedral, claiming that it would spare the locals from a "horror astartes are about to awaken". Ylvar went on to explain the the 'Necrontyr' descended on Zera Secundus aeons ago and that they were 'light sleepers'. He claimed that they instructed the local population to regularly thin their own ranks via mass sacrifice in order to prevent the awakening of these Necrontyr, and that the Astartes' mere presence threatened to trigger their awakening. Outnumbered and outgunned, Chaplain Axon stepped outside to parlay with Ylvar face-to-face, maintaining a ceasefire while Squad Reidor was allowed to retreat away from the square through one of the cathedral's side doors. 'A New Enemy' Before Axon and Ylvar were able to begin any negotiations an unholy scream emanated from the cathedral basement, and the humans that had been taking refuge inside began spilling out into the square in a panic. The Eldar - already on edge - began to open fire at the humans running towards them, cutting them down like wheat to a scythe. Once the panicky shuriken fire died down the Eldar and Astartes realised what the humans had been running from, as a hulking dark figure emerged from the entrance to the church. At the sight of the figure the Eldar panicked briefly before Ylvar brought them under control, the aliens taking cover and training their weapons on this new threat. Meanwhile Axon ordered Reidor and his squad to remain alongside the cathedral and prepare to assault this new foe from the side when commanded. As the figure emerged into the light it became apparent that it was a foe never before encountered by the Astartes. A tall, gaunt figure of dull grey metal, its head fashioned into a vaguely humanoud skull and studded with glowing green lights. A withering hail of Eldar shurkien fire bathed the metal monstrosity, the hyper-lethal discs mostly bouncing off the new foe and succeeding only in severing a single leg joint. The creature screeching sound as its leg split with an electrical spark of green energy, before a dozen other monsters toting large green-glowing rifles emerged from the entrance as well. The strange new enemies' weapons fired solid beams of energy that tore matter to pieces as they struck, and while the heavy Eldar shuriken fire saw some success these Necrontyr creatures' metallic bodies seemed to stitch themselves together almost as fast as they were torn apart. Unaware of just how many of these monsters were beneath the cathedral, Chaplain Axon swiftly devised a plan to collapse the cathedral itself and bury them for good before any more could escape. As the Eldar provided covering fire, Axon charged across the square in defiance of the alien energy beams whilst Reidor leapt into the closely packed humanoids with his jump pack. The fierce Sergeant laid into them with his power axe whilst the squad provided close supporting fire, and Brother Marcus used Reidor's distraction to hurl a demolition pack into the vast cathedral's ornate entrance archway. A tremendous explosion collapsed the entire frontal facade of the cathedral, hundreds of tons of masonry crashing down on rank after rank of metallic xeno-soldiers attempting to march out of the basement. Of the dozen figures that had already emerged Reidor and his squad cut down the last of the figures until just one was left, the first to emerge, who carried and staff and whose metallic frame was adorned with decorative gold and other acoutrements. This Necontyr leader waved his staff and the fallen warriors began reassembling themselves at an alarming rate, forcing Reidor and Axon to engage it as swiftly as possible. The Chaplain engaged the Necrontyr leader in a furious melee, the metallic monster striking with tremendous strength and parrying everything Axon could throw at it. The monstrosity was taller even than the Astartes, stronger too, and its mechanical joins swifter than the eye could follow as it shrugged off blows that would smash a space marine's bones. Thankfully Sergeant Reidor struck from behind with his power axe, giving Axon enough of a distraction for the Chaplain to strike the Necrontyr's staff hand and disarm the monster. With the advantage now in their favour Axon & Reidor traded further blows with the inhumanly tenacious Necrontyr, which despite behind unarmed still managed to survive Reidor embeddeding his axe in the creature's shoulder. The Necrontyr grasped Reidor by the throat in reply, and almost crushed the life from the marine with its bare hands before Axon was able to smash his Crozius Arcanum into the Necrontyr's head with all his might. The Necrontyr leader's head was smashed into pieces, and the metallic humanoid fell to the ground before it and all its compatriots began to to dissolve into metal dust that seemed to sweep itself back into the collapsed cathedral, to the depths from whence it came. Aftermath The new horror had been beaten back, and the Eldar forgave the Astartes for awakening the Necrontyr before disappearing back into the surrounding buildings and streets. Ylvar meanwhile confronted Axon, explaining that now that the Astartes had put a halt to the sacrificial practices it would only be a matter of time before the number of humans on Zera Secundus grew to the point where they awoke the Necrontyr themselves. Ylvar stated that Alaitoc now had no choice but to kill every last human on Zera Secundus, and requested that the Astartes helped them do so. After offering Axon this choice, Ylvar disappeared with the rest of his compatriots. Axon refused to help the Eldar butcher the human inhabitants of Zera Secundus, instead the Astartes took the vast majority of the planet's inhabitants - 40,000 in all - onto the Strongback and Eternal Purity, evacuating them from their doomed world. Leaving Zera Secundus to the Eldar, Axon vessels and their new passengers continued on with the Chaplain's original mission to the Ghoul Stars. However upon their return the Zeran refugees were resettled on the chapter's world of Varda. Category:Chapter Operations Category:Ground Battles